Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you very much. I look forward to working with you and the other members of the committee in the weeks and months ahead.

I thank the clerks and SPICe for putting together the background papers, which are very helpful.

I support the two proposals. We are about to go into the summer recess. By the time we come back, at the beginning of September, the world may have changed quite significantly, so getting an update as soon as possible thereafter from the cabinet secretary would be very useful and would help to guide our future programme.

On broader topics, it will be important to look at the economic situation when it comes to recovery from Covid, and at the health service situation. However, we have to be conscious of the fact that we do not want our work to overlap with any work that other committees of the Parliament are doing. For that reason, I am sure that our clerks will liaise with those of other relevant committees, in order to make sure that we keep abreast of what those committees are doing and that we do not duplicate any work that they are planning. When we get together in late August, that work will give us a good steer on the sorts of areas in which we could usefully provide a contribution and which areas it would be less useful to look at.